Affordable Housing

What constitutes affordable housing? A lot depends on where you live and what you earn. In some parts of the country, income is much higher than others. people moving from the east or west coast find housing in New Mexico to be very affordable. Many of those who were born and raised here find it to be expensive because they are not coming from an area with higher wages and higher housing prices.

Some things that can make a home more affordable for more people are high efficiency appliances, heating and cooling systems that keep utility bills lower. An extra $50 to $100 per month can buy significantly more house or-more importantly a house closer to work so that less money is spent on commuting. Hopefully this will come with the added benefit of less driving and therefore a lower carbon footprint.

The ability to walk, bicycle or use public transportation can significantly lower both the cost of commuting but the amount of pollution in the atmosphere. The exercise certainly can't hurt any of us an may well help us save money on medical bills since we will be healthier as a result. Given the cost of gasoline these days and of maintaining a car a significant amount of money can be redirected to house rather than commuting and polluting.

NAR's Home From Work program can have a great impact on helping these changes come about. If employers of low to mid level workers--places that hire clerks, retail sles people, service workers participate in this program they can increase their employee loyalty and lower their absentee rate while increasing their retention or trained staff. That means a savings in training costs. How does that work? Check out www.tcah.org

 
Posted by Deb Hurt, ABR, e-Pro, EcoBroker, TRC on 07/02/2007 12:47 AM   Comments (4)  

4 Comments on Affordable Housing

It is so true about the areas. It is amazing that people in California can actually get into the home market for the first time! I lived in Texas before and I thought everyone here would make twice as much just to equal out the house payments. I have found out salaries are about the same! There are just lots of folks here stretched to the max!

07/02/2007 12:56 AM by Sandra Williams (Rancon Real Estate)

Exactly. What is reasonably priced to one person is out of reach to another. Sad that so many areas have become so pricey that the people who are service providers, i.e, firemen, police, teachers, etc can't afford housing in the areas where they work.

07/02/2007 02:03 AM by Bob & Carolin Benjamin - E Phoenix Arizona Real Estate (The Benjamin Team - Keller Williams Integrity First Realty )

We are lucky that homes in Alabama are more affordable than in many areas of the country.  Yet in Birmingham, as in any large city, you get more house for your money as you get farther away.  As you mentioned a house closer to work can result in savings in the cost of commuting, not to mention the time savings.  My parents, who are retired, never had to commute in the kind of traffic we have today.  They do not understand why I purchased a home last year that is smaller and older than I could have gotten for the same amount of money in the community where they live, but is located 5 min. from my office and 5 - 7 min. from three of the 4 major interstate/expressways in Birmingham.  I can easily go in any direction needed because of the central location.  If I were to leave my office on a Friday afternoon anytime between 4:30 and 5:30 it would typically take me 1 - 1 1/2 hours to get to their house which is about 12 miles south. No thank you!  For me smaller and convenient (and less gasoline and lower utilities...due to new thermal pane low E windows, added insulation, and new HVAC) is much better!

07/03/2007 12:41 AM by Renee L Norton (Keller Williams Realty)

Great perspective -  I guess we're all experiencing different sets of circumstances in our little corners of the world. Thanks for sharing yours.

Happy 4th Deb! http://activerain.com/blogsview/134946/This-Canadian-s-View

07/04/2007 12:59 AM by Deborah Pearce - Living Spaces - Kelowna Home Staging & Interior Design (Living Spaces Interiors & Home Staging)

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Real Estate Agent: Deb Hurt, ABR, e-Pro, EcoBroker, TRC (Exit Realty of Albuquerque)
Deb Hurt, ABR, e-Pro, EcoBroker, TRC
Albuquerque, NM
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Exit Realty of Albuquerque

Office Phone: (505) 296-7700
Cell Phone: (505) 321-0562
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My blog is as much about a philosophy of life and living as it is about real estate as a business. E.F. Shumacher subtitled his book SMALL IS BEAUTIFUL "Economics as if People Mattered" In the real estate industry we realize that people matter and that where they live matters. We now also have a larger responsiblity, I believe, to get them to consider HOW they live. Everyone in the developed world using less energy and resources makes it possible for those who have access to neither to experience a better life and to make the difference between their being able to having a roof overhead or not or for their children to eat or not. 


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